Melinda’s POV
The house felt different now.
Not quieter.
Calmer.
Like something dangerous had finally left the room.
Andrew was gone. Rebecca had stepped down. My name was back on the firm, the custody documents had been filed, and the twins were sleeping like the world had never tried to take their mother from them.
But I couldn’t sleep.
I stood in the doorway of the nursery, watching Elijah roll onto his side, clutching that same battered dinosaur. Elena mumbled something in her sleep, one hand flopped across her forehead like a miniature queen.
And I wondered—
Was it really over?
Or had I just learned how to hold my breath longer than the storm?
James was in the kitchen when I came down.
Gray T-shirt. Barefoot. Reading one of the twins’ storybooks at the table with the kind
